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Microsoft Corp. launched a last-ditch attempt to stave off the threat of million-dollar-a-day fines on Wednesday when it submitted its formal response to European Commission charges that it is failing to comply with an antitrust ruling.

In a statement accompanying the submission, the company said that it had fully complied with the Commission’s demands to ensure interoperability with its server software and accused the Commission of disregarding “critical evidence” in the case.

SAN DIEGO -- Novell plans to release a beta for its Linux Desktop 10 including new features offering better interoperability with Microsoft Office and Open Office, said Ted Haeger, Novell Inc.'s director of user communities, at the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE). The beta, tentatively scheduled for release next month, will include a new feature, dubbed Xgl. Haeger said Xgl will allow users to jump between screens and multiple desktops. Targeted to CAD software users, Xgl has a practical side that allows users to have better window- and file-sharing capabilities.

As Microsoft continues to thrash it out with the European Commission over what it needs to do to get the antitrust monkey off its back, reader Bill Flanagan points out that its offer to open up some of its Windows Server source code isn't as munificent as it may appear at first.

On Monday, SJVN (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, a long time senior journalist) reported about a new study which proves that Linux systems are much more affordable and easier to administer than their Windows counterparts.

At last week's Demo conference, a showcase of all things edgy, techie and gadgetey, saw the debut of what I am willing to bet is the first Linux-powered automatic ice-cream making machine. The MooBella Ice Cream System is a vending-machine-sized device (kind of a cross between a fridge and a coke machine) that can almost instantly create a scoop of ice cream in a variety of flavors, with or without nuts, crushed cookies or candy.

[Ed: This does sound like the perfect job for a penguin! Can't wait to see one of these gadgets! - dcparris]

In the increasingly Microsoft-dominated land of law firms, Linux deployments remain just about nil, but security appliances are starting to stand out as one exception, according to attorneys and IT folks attending LegalTech. Jacqueline Emigh files this report.

Tonight on The Linux Link Tech Show, episode 123: We talk to Jeremy Allison, from the Samba Project Dan talks about collaboration in Inkscape and his trip to Vegas The OSDL sponsored white paper to combat Microsoft FUD LWE updates And much, much more

Calendaring software, and in particular Microsoft Outlook, is frequently cited as a killer app that keeps would-be Linux users on Windows. As open source developers assault the calendaring problem, you will hear more and more about CalDAV, the calendaring and scheduling extensions to the WebDAV protocol. Let's see what makes it tick.

This Eclipse tutorial gives you a high-level overview of how to use CruiseControl, Luntbuild, and Anthill with Eclipse. This tutorial shows you how the Eclipse Perl Integration (EPIC) plug-in for Eclipse can help you test Perl applications. One is a traditional Perl debugger, the other tests Perl regular expressions.

Microsoft may not make flawless software, but its proprietary strategy is hard to fault, writes columnist Jan Stafford in a newly published TechTarget.com article. Specifically, Microsoft has mastered desktop lock-in, undermining users' confidence in alternatives and creating a slew of minor difficulties that irritate those who do switch, she added.

"Two themes dominate the stories I hear about the tribulations of using and adopting non-Microsoft business desktops: the difficulty in finding compatible hardware, and the stranglehold Microsoft Word has on users. In the last week, IT pros have shared their experiences with these two adoption inhibitors. They're representative of other stories I've heard," Stafford writes.

Open source development is key to solving data center security problems, says Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy. Speaking Tuesday at the RSA conference in San Jose, Calif., McNealy said the world is becoming less private, with people's personal information flowing on all levels of day-to-day life.